NY qualifies 4 of the ther 12 teams for the 4x8 Championship of America
Garden City, NY - 9:10.63
Ursuline, NY - 9:14.66
North Rockland, NY - 9:17.55
Kellenberg, NY - 9:15.21
4x100m Prelims
Benjamin Cardozo, NY - 46.87
Medgar Evers, NY - 48.1
Prospect Hights, NY - 49.86
By Christopher Hunt
PHILADELPHIA – The Penn Relays was supposed to be the first time that Garden City assembled its best relay team, the first time they made a full-out assault on the 4x800 relay this season.
But when the team made it to the track at the UPenn’s Franklin Field Thursday 
morning they found out that two of their best half-milers would not be allowed to race. The Penn Relays does not allow middle-schoolers into varsity races. Garden City’s Emma Gallagher is in seventh-grade and Katie O’Neill is an eighth-grader.
That threw Jenna DeAngelo and Taylor Hennig on the first two legs.. DeAngelo (2:21.4), Hennig (2:18.8), Michelle Rontondo (2:14.8) and Emily Menges (2:15.6) won their section of the Small Schools 4x800 in 9:10.63. The team left in the morning from New York to make the race at 10:30 a.m. By the time they arrived they were pressed for time to warm-up and suddenly discovered they needed to replace two legs.
“We were all kind of freaking out, Menges said. None of us were really ready. Hopefully we can run faster tomorrow.”
Garden City qualified for Friday’s Championship of America with the fifth-fastest time of the day. Ursuline, Kellenberg and North Rockland all advanced as well. Garden City’s time is the sixth-fastest in the country this season. The team expects that Menges and Rotondo can both run faster tomorrow. Gallagher, who ran 2:16.32 indoors and O’Neill, who ran 2:18.98 indoors, both watched from the stands.
“I feel bad that they came all the way down here,” said Hennig, who brought the team from seventh place up to second on the second leg. “They’re going to have a lot of chances to run here though.”
Last year, Garden City qualified for the championship final despite running 9:27.95. Then Menges’ 2:10.0 anchor leg made them the first American team to finish in the final in 9:11.90, fourth-place overall.
Ursuline finished second behind Garden City in the first of two small school sections. The Koalas finished in 9:14.66 with Kaitlin Mallinson (2:21.3), Shanel Golding (2:17.1), Mary O’Shea (2:20.2) and Jackie McCarthy (2:16.1.). North Rockland’s Kristen Walsh (2:15.1), Alexis Hatcher (2:21.6), Elizabeth Hekker (2:20.8) and Olivia Ohanian (2:20.9) placed fifth in the first large schools race in 9:17.55. Kellenberg finished third in the second large schools race in 9:15.21 with Kylie Pearse (2:23.4), Juliana Galante (2:21.3), Colleen Meenan (2:20.3) and Kim McKay (2:10.1).
McKay’s relay split was the fastest of the day.
Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.